MTV Unplugged in New York is a massively popular live album by Nirvana, surpassed in sales only by the band's breakout album, Nevermind. It was taped at Sony Music Studios in New York City November 18, 1993 for the MTV series "Unplugged," and featured a fan-favorite acoustic performance. Directed by Beth McCarthy, the show aired on the cable television network MTV on December 14, 1993. Rather than the show's traditional practice of featuring a band's most popular hits in acoustic form, Nirvana opted to play mainly lesser-known material as well as cover versions of songs by The Vaselines, David Bowie, Meat Puppets (they were joined by Cris and Curt Kirkwood of the Meat Puppets onstage for these songs) and Lead Belly.